


For Keeps

by Readem



Category: Naruto
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, M/M, Post-Second Shinobi War, Sage Uzumaki Naruto, Time Travel, Uzumaki Naruto-centric, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24779905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Readem/pseuds/Readem
Summary: There's a good reason for the phrase "look before you leap", not that Naruto has ever lived by it.Given a future with little hope, Naruto and Kurama travel back in time to make some changes.Just because they're playing for keeps doesn't mean they can't have fun with it.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 115





	For Keeps

Old age was something Naruto never truly thought about.

His devil-may-care attitude throughout his life probably suggested to most that he didn’t expect to live long enough to be certifiably old, but that was not actually the case. He just hadn’t thought much about it.

The life of a shinobi was certainly fraught with danger, and current times more so. Many died or retired young after devastating injury, and Naruto hadn’t been faced much with age. The oldest person he had known was the Sandaime Hokage, and he’d been on active duty until the day he died at 70. To Naruto, a kid with Hokage in his dreams and stars in his eyes, age wasn’t a factor, and he didn’t bother to question it.

He certainly knew how being old felt now. And he didn’t like it one bit.

Naruto’s body felt lighter, fragile in a way he’d never expected a person could feel. While Naruto was always actually far more aware of his body - thanks to his chakric sensitivities - now, that sense felt dull. The only comparison he could give was the husk of a juiced lime, like the potential had been milked out of him. His bones ground together a little, too, when he knelt, and wasn’t that strange? He’d only felt that way once, when he’d tried on Lee’s leg warmers at full capacity, and now there wasn’t the excuse of weight. Naruto muscles were stiffer, too, and it took longer to bend and reach things; he kept pausing in a stretch as his body told him to stop or risk injury. Logically, it probably wouldn’t be so bad when it happened naturally, but to feel all of the changes at once, especially compared to a prime shinobi physique, it was painful and unnerving. He wished he’d had thought to bring a mirror, because this was bizarre.

With liver spotted hands, Naruto carefully drew another stroke on the seal. And wasn’t that a rip-off? If this idea failed because he’d become too old to hold a brush without shaking, not only would he be throwing away a golden opportunity, but he’d be stuck as an octogenarian!

The thought made him snicker, until his leg spasmed from the strange way he was kneeling. Good thing Sakura wasn’t able to see what he’d done to himself, or she’d have put him out of his misery on principle. And wasn’t that a sobering thought? Gah, he was thinking too much, and needed to get this done. He was out of food, anyway, and the space they’d decided to work in didn’t have any other distractions - not that he wanted any. This was too important.

Several hours later, the sun was going down, and that meant that Naruto needed to put out the security perimeter so he could turn on his lamp. No moon meant surprisingly dark nights, though everyone had gotten used to it a few months in. The stars were still visible, but their light was more aesthetic than useful, unless you were someone with enhanced night vision.

Pulling out the metal stakes, Naruto left his shelter to drive each of them into the ground. It took a bit of time to do without chakra, as they had to be sunk at least a half foot in so that they were sticking out an equal amount, and this was a rocky country. When the ten stakes were set, he grabbed a length of copper ninja wire and connected them, slapping a lightning tag on the join. A dull hum in the air told him it was working, and there was palpable chakra emanating from the sea glass indicator embedded in the metal stakes. Satisfied, Naruto stretched his back - or tried to - and basked in the cool night air for a bit. Even for all that had happened, using tools he had made always brought a warm smile to his face, and he couldn’t quite believe that he had come so far as to be labeled a craftsman in any sense of the word. Iruka-sensei would probably party in his grave if he knew.

Rolling his shoulders to try to alleviate their stiffness, Naruto walked the genjutsu barrier once again, searching for any stakes that had been damaged or weren’t active. All was good, and should he be found by wildlife, they’d receive a shock to encourage them not to penetrate the “thicket” of thorny bushes that the genjutsu projected. He still vividly remembered that time when he and Tenten had been traveling and a family of skunks decided that a thicket looked like a delightful place to spend the night. They’d had to get rid of a lot of supplies after that, but the look on his friend’s face had almost been worth the headaches.

“Are you done yet?” came the growling voice in his head, and Naruto had never rolled his eyes harder. 

“Geez, grumpy. I thought you’d gotten a nice nap? Plus, isn’t this my turn to be a grouchy old man?” Grinning, Naruto let his back hunch like it wanted and shook a fist in the air. “Get off my lawn, you crazy kid!”

“If I didn’t know you, I’d think you were an idiot. Oh, wait.”

Naruto tried to suppress his laughter, but the giggles forced themselves through, and he was suddenly glad no one else was here, because he definitely sounded like Jiraya used to when he was peeping.

“Ass. If I didn’t know you, I’d think you were a giant rage monster. Oh, wait.”

“Brat! If you’re ready to work and are finished being a rank SS moron, we’re ready.”

Oh. OH. They were ready. Suddenly numb with the idea, even though he’d been working toward that end for months, Naruto felt the weight of their plan descend on him.

“Yeah, ok, just let me check over the seal; it should be dry unless I need to fix something.” He could feel the Kyuubi come forward in his mind so that they were sharing vision, not so much a physical feeling as a mental sense that someone was looking over your shoulder. With a twist to the seal indicator on his chakra lamp, it lit the tent in a vibrant blue.

The larger seal Naruto had been working on was actually on several sets of thin A19 chakra transfer paper in square sections. It took 16 in all, and represented each gate of the body, with linking channels and filters predominant on the array. The most important part was the containment filter at the center. All of the papers would be applied to Naruto’s body, with that filter over his seal, to keep Kurama’s chakra separate from Naruto but still contained within his soul. Hopefully, if they had done everything correctly, they would be able to pull out uncontaminated nature chakra without releasing him and killing them both. To that end the Kyuubi had been “meditating” to collect nature chakra, which was faster and allowed Naruto to move about and do things instead of sitting still for the months it would have taken him. It was a lot of chakra.

With a final mental thumbs up, Naruto decided he wasn’t getting any younger, and stripped to his bare skin. All of his belongings were in a wooden chest he’d carved with preserving seals, and he added the clothing and the rest of his brush kit, leaving the tent empty except for the seals, his light, and himself. Hopefully, if this didn’t work, someone would be able to find and use his things, not to mention his letter.

He and the Kyuubi didn’t need to communicate with worded thoughts, given their shared mental space. The feeling of approval and urgency and the fullness of his body with nature chakra were enough that Naruto started applying the squares. When he was finished, they wrapped around his calves and thighs, forearms and biceps, genitals, lower back, stomach, upper chest, forehead, nape, and on the hands and feet. He couldn’t move much once it was finished, or he risked tearing things and starting over; A19 was a very thin grade of paper, and he’d used every square he’d managed to find. If this worked, Naruto mused, he’d probably become a supplies hoarder.

As ready as he could be, Naruto took a moment to just stand, closing his eyes. If it wouldn’t have ruined the paper, he might have cried for a bit, full of the grief and failure that had pushed him to this point, and the yearning hope that he could change so much.

With a slow breath, he opened the chakra gates of his body, and let them fill with nature energy, balanced on the knife’s edge of too much. Once he was ready, Kurama brought his own energy to bear, and the seals on his body lit in a spectrum of color, feeling simultaneously like they were burning from too much heat and a lack of it. As the energy reached a peak, and the light stabilized, Naruto imagined a sea of faces - friends, family, and enemies alike - staring at him and smiling.

“This is for you.”

Something was burning. It smelled like flesh and felt like it, too.

Jerking his body, Naruto leapt up from the ground and frantically started tearing off the paper seals. Still stuck to his skin with chakra, they were burned and fragile. Some more intact squares took off a layer of burned skin, while others crumbled and left torn strips stuck to open blisters. Thankfully the seal over his genitals was still put together, and he had the clarity of mind to go slower tearing that one off, lest he be without something important. Finally, when the last was gone and he was no longer actively burning, Naruto slumped, though he stayed standing. He could tell, thanks to the fifteen foot radius of dead plant life around him, that the excess of the Kyuubi’s tainted chakra had been successfully vented, though more so than he had expected.

Clenching his hands, which were already healing, he smiled to think they looked younger, though also smaller than he expected. The skin was paler than he was used to, too, since it hadn’t technically been exposed to the sun at all, and the myriad of scars he had accumulated were gone. Consequences of his body regenerating entirely; he was a little more sad than he expected at the thought that there were no physical memories left of his struggles. As such, his fingernails weren’t as grown as they usually were, stopping at the tips of his fingers instead of curving out. Shikamaru had made fun of him for being girly, but they were useful and Kiba had taught him to elongate them into claws without drawing on Kurama. He also, strangely, had no body hair, and with a panicked shout he reached for his head, gritting his teeth against the pull of the burns on his neck and shoulders. He had no hair, though his scalp already prickled with new growth. If he felt better, he would have fallen to his knees in dramatics, but as it was he settled for yelling at Kurama. The fox barely stirred, spirit exhaused, and only gave a short mental “go fuck yourself”, though Naruto noticed he paid a little more attention after that.

His chakra pathways were whole, thanks to the seals and the regeneration he had experienced, so Naruto planted his feet and concentrated on cycling. They’d figured out, after Madara had burned him alive the first time, that if he rotated yang chakra through his body as the Kyuubi healed him, that things went much faster. It was draining, but Naruto needed a clear head and functional body to establish himself.

Time passed, and what was a very early morning ended with the sun at its peak before Naruto was done. His body felt sticky with the dried fluids from the burns, and bits of ashy paper and dead skin clinging to him. Kurama seemed a little more present, though, and overall their spirits were high. Judging by Naruto’s younger form and the changed foliage, things had worked!

When Orochimaru had told him that sages could travel through time, given enough chakra, Naruto had scoffed harder than Sasuke ever had. Why then, he’d asked, had Jiraya never done so? The man would have certainly made many changes in his life, as he’d confided over the years to Naruto after too much sake or too much grief. But Orochimaru’s explanation had given him pause. Sages could travel, using natural chakra as both a gateway and a link, through the sage’s lifespan. Which meant you could travel no farther back than your birth, with forward travel being untried or impossible. The amount of nature chakra required, though, was massive, and it all needed to be slightly imbued with the traveler’s chakra, and stored in their body to do so. Most people, even with intense preparation, wouldn’t have been able to travel more than a year because their body wouldn’t be able to contain the energy. Sages were rare, anyway. In fact, Orochimaru hadn’t even been a sage, though he had apparently considered it when he learned about the possibilities for time travel. His modifications wouldn’t have played nice with unmixed nature chakra, he reasoned, and implored Naruto to consider the possibility - as the only one left who could.

The first time he had jumped, it had only been an hour. Kurama and Naruto had tried different configurations of seals to help with the backlash, and increased the span to several days at the end. It was good they had, otherwise Naruto likely would have died given his unusual physiology. During that span Naruto had the idea of aging his body so that when he arrived, instead of being a child, he would have an older form. The plan was certainly to overshoot as much as possible, since the formula they had been using to calculate chakra necessary for the jump was guesswork.

Letting out a breath, Naruto shook out his limbs, and went into some stretches to verify everything was working properly. As he did, he considered his surroundings.

He had been camped in the West, close to the border with Rain. After the bloodbath in Ame, their last-ditch effort, it had been the best choice to be close to Konoha when he returned. He could have travelled closer, but he didn’t dare risk fate longer than he had to. Naruto also hadn’t been sure of the destruction that would have come with a failed attempt, and a large circle of dead foliage in the wilderness was easy to hide. By his measure, it would take a week to travel to Konoha. He was treating this as an infiltration mission, and didn’t want to exhaust himself by rushing.

Plus… he needed some clothes.

Concentrating, he cast wind chakra out in a net around him, reaching as far as he dared. For at least 300 yards around him, there was nobody except a few deer and other wild animals. With a smile he pulled chakra in a quick earth release, forming a pit to remove evidence of his passing, the leftover nature chakra dissipating as it was disturbed.

Then he faced east, and was off.

Two days of traveling had led him to avoid three pockets of people, including a squad of shinobi that felt like a half battalion, three civilian hunters, and a family traveling with a genin guard. The family had nearly been an embarrassing encounter. Naruto wasn’t the best with anything more than general directions, and it seemed the roads that had been carved through the area didn’t quite exist yet. When he had finally stumbled onto the main trade road heading North through to the Land of Waterfalls, he hadn’t expected it. Luckily he was quick and - bonus points - nobody had seen him naked.

Naruto, at this point, was fairly sure something had gone wrong. He was younger than he should be, younger than he had wanted to admit that first day. If he had to guess, based on comparing himself to kids he had known, he was anywhere from five to seven. Given that he had been 30, pre-aged to about 80, he should have been significantly physically older. The implications were worrying, but he resolved to hold out hope until he knew when exactly he had ended up. At least he hadn’t come back as an infant. Not only would that have been embarrassing, he wouldn’t have been able to mold chakra enough to fix anything.

Luckily, the family he had stumbled across was largely made up of children - three boys of varying ages and their parents and a man who seemed to be their grandfather. The father was pulling a rickshaw, sometimes helped by the oldest - who seemed about 15 - which held their luggage and a seat for the grandfather and smallest boy, who was about two. With them were two Konoha shinobi who had the grey vest of career genin, styled similarly to the green flak jacket that chunin and up wore, but slightly longer and with less padding. Naruto hadn’t hung out with many career genin, given that he had been assigned to Kakashi-sensei, but Lee and Kiba especially had hung out with a lot of them. Most people who graduated from the academy ended up working in the village in office, development, and maintenance positions, or were assigned long-term to posts outside the village in similar risk ranges. Those “career” genin didn’t have the time set aside to train like chunin and jonin had, and didn’t take missions higher than C ranks as they related to their normal jobs, like low level escorts. Genin teams like his sometimes took those they could that didn’t require the skill or specialization that the career genin had.

In this case, the two were unknowns, men who looked standard to the Land of Fire with darker brown hair and shinobi-standard wear, though one had a green bandanna over his balding head. Naruto nearly left them before he realized that the middle child was about the same age as he physically appeared to be. With a considering look, he decided to follow them and hopefully steal some clothes, which he desperately needed before he met people, no matter how badly he felt about taking things.

For an hour he followed them until they stopped for a break and to let the younger boy out to pee. Bandana guy stayed by the road where they’d parked the rickshaw, and listened as the mother started a conversation. The others went a little ways into the woods to relieve themselves, the other shinobi with them on alert. This was probably the best chance he’d get until they stopped to camp, and he didn’t want to fool around with the genin on perimeter duty.

With a quick prayer to the Sage for luck, Naruto gathered chakra for an area-of-effect genjutsu, projecting the empty road. Quick as he could, he walked slowly out of the treeline to their cart. Once shielded by the sun shade, he rifled through the packs there until he found one with clothes. Pulling out a few yukata, he held them up to his body. The men were done quick; he heard their voices getting louder, and decided he’d take the larger one. He didn’t try for neatness as he shoved the extra back in the canvas bag, buckling it. He jumped as horizontally as he could behind a large Hashirama tree on the opposite side of the road and released his genjutsu just as they came back into view, the shinobi actually carrying the grandfather this time. Naruto felt a sympathetic ache in his back at how twisted up the old man looked - now that he’d lived it, he certainly felt for the elderly.

Within a few minutes, the family was back on the road; the grandfather was sitting on most of their supplies, so Naruto was sure no one would notice his theft until he was long gone. He stayed behind the tree until he couldn’t sense them any more, and then looked at his winnings.

It was a dark blue yukata, probably belonging to the father, it was so big, and patterned with stylized waves. With a silent thank you to the family, he continued on, resolving to find a river to eat and bathe before he tried on his new acquisition. Things were looking up.

“I’ll tell you again, I don’t know human geography. I haven’t had a body for longer than you’ve been alive, idiot.”

“Worth a try.” Naruto groused, turning in a circle. Yep. He was definitely lost. He’d headed east, but turned south a bit thinking he might pass too far north of the village and overshoot. Shit, he should have taken the roads. Looking like he did, though, a young boy in a man’s clothing, he hadn’t wanted to risk running into travelers or shinobi not on his terms.

In the week he’d been in this time, he’d concluded he’d missed any active war. There were a few patrols and shinobi on missions, but nothing like he remembered from history lessons or the fourth and fifth wars. That was promising, and he’d be more likely to be taken in once he found the village, but he was freaking lost. Maybe he’d wonder in circles forever and die in the wilderness.

“Cut the dramatics. Given how many people we’ve had to avoid, we’re close to the village or a settlement. Go somewhere high and look around - stop whining.” With a mental flick on the ear, Kurama retreated from his senses, settling in to recover a little more. Naruto considered poking at him for fun, but his stomach was aching and he really was sick of not knowing when he was.

Leaping up higher into the trees, he peeked out to see a large incline about two miles ahead of him. It seemed to be the highest point for miles, so he headed in that direction, ignoring the smug feelings coming from his fox.

Except, he was more of an idiot than he guessed.

As alert as he had been for people, he hadn’t been paying attention to animals. With a yelp, he barely dodged a snake’s strike, some massive brown and gold thing that had been wrapped around a tree. He lost his footing as a branch snapped, and sent him tumbling down, snapping more as he went. The air was knocked out of him as he landed, but luckily the snake didn’t seem interested in following him, and stayed high in the tree. As he stared up at the trunk, forcing himself to breathe normally, he saw something else that made him want to bash his head against a wall. 

Perimeter seals.

Large, simple carvings ringed most of the trees around him. He’d only seen the remnants of active ones like this, mostly in the training grounds around Konoha. Back before the Barrier Corps was disbanded thanks to Danzo’s schemes, Konoha had been circled in marked trees that flagged when large amounts of chakra crossed them, in addition to the wall that encircled the village. They also, when activated by the release, could form a physical barrier, and had been used significantly in the Second and Third Great Shinobi Wars. Only Uzushio and Iwagakure had boasted similar defenses, though most people who were identified as seal masters had been hunted down like dogs over time. The ability to create barriers like that were rare, though they were easy to maintain. These looked like they’d been refreshed recently, chakra-conductive ink gleaming in the crevices of the carvings.

At least this meant he was around Konoha, though likely on the opposite side, coming up the back of the mountain. That meant he was currently within the jounin-restricted training grounds, so at least the snake made sense.

He debated for a bit, studying the seals, on whether or not he should continue up or follow the seals around, but decided he’d continue on his path. It wouldn’t be very good to tip his hand quite yet if someone found him following the seals, as that would indicate he knew what they were. While he didn’t have a solid plan on how to explain his presence quite yet, the makings were there.

Naruto continued on the ground, albeit traveling with speed. He doubted anyone would be able or willing to be so meticulous as to assess how quickly he was running. Another two hours and he was at the top of the crest, and there it was - Konoha. The cliff was a bit steeper than he remembered, but just seeing it whole, and not as the crater that it had been after Pein’s attack… Not quite ready to break down, Naruto did let some tears escape, sniffing and tilting his head back when it got to be too much. He’d always been a snotty crybaby as a kid, and it looked like he was keeping up the tradition.

Kurama’s presence was soft in his mind, as close to a hug as they’d ever get, and something in Naruto’s chest loosened. He wouldn’t be able to fix everything, to save everyone; he’d known that far before he’d made the jump. But now the possibility was here, he was here, and things were looking up.

“I’m home, guys.”

Naruto wasn’t really sure if he was annoyed with village security, or thankful for it.

After an hour just staring out at the village, looking for familiar places and listening to the sound of people talking and laughing, he prepared to leap down to the Yondaime’s head and had to catch himself on the edge because it wasn’t there.

The First, Second, and Third were where they should be, but the Yondaime was just a blank section of rock face. Somehow he’d broken the rules he thought were rigid. Somehow he’d traveled back before his own birth.

“What the fuck,” he breathed, forcing down a panic attack. He had maybe thought he’d end up within some hours of his birth, but there was no sign of any large attack on the city, and when he’d assumed he’d arrived after the attack there was nothing to refute that. Except no Fourth.

“Does this mean -”

“Kid, get a grip. No matter what, your plan is still the same,” Kurama said forcefully, interrupting his thoughts before he could spiral. “We’re still in Konoha, still changing things. And we don’t know anything yet, until you get down there and do something.”

“... yeah.” Naruto smiled softly, though it probably came out a bit manic with the adrenaline making his hands shake. “Let’s do it, dattebayo!”

Invigorated by new possibilities, Naruto leapt down onto Sandaime's head instead. All of the Hokage’s visages were linked by a path carved into the mountain, only big enough for two people to walk side by side and very steep on the stairs. Sometimes civilians would come up to sight-see, but largely those who hung out on the Hokage’s heads were shinobi, and they didn’t need stairs.

He trotted down them, pulling in his sensory awareness as he did, so he wouldn’t disturb anyone in the city. It was common for people to be sensitive to that sort of chakra net he used, and it would give him away for sure.

The stairs came out near a small park, situated near the public bathhouses and a few restaurants, perfect for tourists. It also happened to be near the Hokage tower and the academy, which was good for field trips or peeping visitors. Jiraya had laughed a few times that his teacher had built those bathhouses so he’d visit more often, and Naruto still wasn’t sure if he had been honest about that or not.

Rubbing a hand over the short fluff of hair on his head, Naruto decided a bath was in order. The bathhouses were public and free, so he trotted over to the men’s side, loosening his shoulders and plastering a goofy grin on his face, not that it was much different from his usual.

He made it inside without seeing anyone recognizable, folding his stolen yukata carefully before showering. People generally were trusted not to steal in a shinobi village, at least civilians, so it was easy to grab a bar of soap from someone’s things. Feeling refreshed and more human, Naruto was glad for the Kyuubi even more as he rubbed the tanning skin of his body. Without Kurama, he would have been sunburned four times over in addition to the burns he’d healed, but his body was starting to tan as he’d known it before. His hair also grew faster, so his arms and legs and head didn’t look as strange as they had a week ago. In fact, he probably had a solid inch on his head, fluffy like only a baby’s hair could be. The lack of pubic hair was strange, though, and that was going to take some getting used to, at least for a few years.

Giggling to himself, Naruto took a coarse public towel and went over to the springs, sinking into the warm water with a sigh. It had been years since he’d been around springs like this, and if he hadn’t been so hungry he probably would have considered soaking until he died.

Then he heard their voices.

Four others were on the men’s side with Naruto, civilian men who looked like they were making some sort of business deal. Coming into the baths, however, were none other than Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and two other men that Naruto didn’t initially recognize. The two sannin were arguing casually, with the silver-haired man interrupting occasionally. Naruto’s heart raced so hard he thought he might pass out, and it took everything he had not to stare obsessively at Jiraiya. God, it was good to see him, and the love for his mentor forced a tear out of his eye that he hid by dunking his head in the water. He drifted a little closer to the civilians, hoping that they would assume he was with them, and tilted his head back against the edge, draping his towel over his face like he was going to sleep.

Twenty minutes passed with Naruto trying to understand their conversation - it was about chunin promotions? Maybe? - before he finally caught a break.

“I still can’t believe we’re dealing with exams instead of being sent out again,” Jiraiya was saying, and a dull splash indicated he’d smacked the water. “We can’t trust that Hanzo has really fulfilled his promises! That damn -”

“Sarutobi-sensei cannot afford it,” Orochimaru cut in, sounding more human than Naruto had ever known him to, even after he’d been defeated, “the treaty is tentative enough, yes, but that means that any overt actions could break the peace. And we are nothing if not overt.”

“There’s still a shinobi presence, anyway, just diminished. I know we pulled all of our outpost troops back to the border, so we’ll know if they screw up,” said the third man. He had a husky voice, but sounded kind. Certainly patient, with how long it seemed the others had been talking in circles. “C’mon, guys. I don’t want to talk about work anymore. We’re out, we’re together - let’s talk about women.”

Jiraiya’s tone changed immediately, and he cheered as Orochimaru sighed. The fourth man with them laughed, and started asking about some woman named Kori and her breasts.

As they talked, Naruto considered the timeline. Given how old the Sannin looked, and the talk of Hanzo, the Second Great War should have just ended. Perhaps within the year. Hanzo hadn’t died until the Third war, which meant he was about a decade before his own birth. That meant Kakashi-sensei was probably in the academy about now, and most of his friends weren’t born either. Wow.

Feeling a little overwhelmed, Naruto basked in Jiraiya’s voice as his mentor waxed poetic about the merits of blondes. The water shifted nearby, and the civilian men left, clapping each other on the back about a deal. Naruto drifted into a meditative state, still listening, and didn’t realize until too late that he’d been addressed directly.

“Wha?” Naruto blinked as someone took the towel off his head, and the sun blinded him. It was early afternoon, now, and he’d gotten a little lost in the sound of the village. A face blinked above him, heavy eyelids and silver hair of the man reminding him of Kakashi-sensei.

“I said, you okay kid? I think your dad left without you,” the man said, looking concerned. The other three sat quietly where they had moved a little closer to Naruto. Jiraiya looked abashed as Orochimaru hissed at him about talking about porn around children. The scene made Naruto feel a little ridiculous, especially since the two had pulled their long hair up in buns to avoid the water, which was surreal.

A little thrown by the concern, Naruto blurted, “Oh I don’t have a dad,” and immediately wanted to smack himself. The silver-haired man’s face fell a little, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Jiraiya raise his eyebrows. “Uh, I’m here by myself.”

“How old are you, kid? You’re not supposed to be in here for so long, especially without a parent, you know,” said not-Kakashi, and Naruto ducked his head. This was getting way personal, and way more on the nose than he had wanted. “Aren’t you supposed to be in school, anyway?”

“Uh, I’m six,” Naruto said, in a snap decision to cooperate and see where things went. He knew he was being devil-may-care with this, but that was his M.O. anyway. “And I’m alone. I don’t go to school.” He tucked his head a little, pretending to be shy. “It was really nice to take a bath and I don’t know where else to go.” True, sorta.

By now Orochimaru and Jiraiya were having a war with their eyes, Jiraiya pleading and Orochimaru the opposite. The fourth man looked a little done with the situation, and Naruto thought he looked a little like Sasuke did when he was bored. They certainly had the same coloring.

“Well, uh,” not-Kakashi said, unsure, “I’m sure one of us can help, but first, what’s your name, kid?”

“Naruto.”

“Well, Naruto, I’m Sakumo, and this is Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Kagami.” They were interrupted by Naruto’s stomach making itself known, and he blushed. Figures, since he had only eaten foraged food and fish in the last week, and his body had no fat reserves. He’d seen his face in a mirror inside and while he looked like himself as a kid, he was a little gaunt with lack of food and stress. Kids never held up well to that. “Would… would you like to get some food? We can talk more and feed that stomach.” He smiled kindly as Naruto glanced at the others, and surprisingly Kagami spoke up.

“We were going to eat anyway, Naruto-chan, please come with us.” Oh, he was definitely nicer than Sasuke. Not one to turn down a direct invitation, especially now, Naruto grinned and nodded, leaping to his feet excitedly as his stomach growled again.

“Yes! Thank you!”

The men clearly had questions and concerns, but held their tongues as they rinsed off and dressed. Their eyebrows all raised at Naruto’s dirty, oversized yukata, and lack of undergarments, and they kept making meaningful eye contact. Naruto saw a few hand signals as well, though he was a little rusty considering it had been at least five years since he’d used them with regularity. He was sure he caught ‘report’, ‘home’, and ‘food’, though that didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already expect.

Orochimaru led them to a restaurant catty corner to the bathhouse, which had a lot of outdoor seating. Naruto’s vision was blocked mostly by Jiraiya, the giant he was, but he managed to peek around enough to realize it was a noodle place. Sakumo sat with him at a table while the others went to retrieve food, talking a little with Naruto about his own son, who was in the academy to become a shinobi. Naruto nearly choked on his own spit when he realized not-Kakashi was really Kakashi’s father, which made a lot of sense and was really sad. Naruto had found out more details of his sensei’s childhood from Gai, after their teams merged, and thought Sakumo had been royally fucked over by the village. Naruto determined to change that, now that he could, and be a wonderful friend to him and his son.

He expressed an interest in the academy, hoping that his enthusiasm would inspire them to test him. When the others returned with different varieties of udon, Naruto was only a little disappointed it wasn’t ramen before he was in food heaven. He sucked down his bowl and tried to look satisfied, though his stomach was rumbling still. The others, in the middle of taking their first bites, just stared at him, and he blushed.

“Um, thank you! It was really good.” Naruto said, demure. Orochimaru gave him a considerate look, before getting up to the counter again. The others went back to eating, now in deeper thought, and having a very unsubtle conversation in one-handed sign on the other side of the table. Unfortunately Naruto was too short to see them, and busied himself with his chopsticks instead.

Two bowls were deposited in front of him, and Naruto met Orochimaru’s eyes, surprised. All the sannin said was, “Slow down this time,” before he went back to his seat.

A little abashed, Naruto dug in happily, this time at a more normal pace, though he still ended up finishing them both at the same time as the others did their first. Kagami retrieved some berry tea, and they each received a cup to nurse.

“Naruto,” Sakumo said again, holding eye contact, “are you hungry like this a lot?”

“Well yeah!” Naruto beamed, “I can eat a lot!” The men chuckled, but Sakumo didn’t let his non-answer by.

“That’s very good, Naruto, but I mean do you have people who feed you and take care of you? Who helps you not be hungry?”

“Well,” Naruto pretended to consider, “sometimes someone nice gives me something, or some money, like you guys, but I mostly eat in the woods.” All four faces went stony, eyes on his face. Naruto shrugged, shy. “I like noodles best, but fish are okay and ojisan taught me what I can eat.”

“Naruto, are you saying you live in the forest?” Jiraiya’s voice was quiet, and Naruto shivered. That was the same tone he’d talked about Orochimaru in when they first met. The sannin wasn’t usually so serious, but it only made it more terrifying.

“Yes, sometimes.” Naruto considered how much to say, but decided a child might overshare. “The ojisan who took care of me left for Taki, but he forgot to take me with him. I tried to follow them but it was really far and I got lost a lot. I just got here!” Naruto perked up, grinning like he’d achieved the world. He had to admit, it was a little fun to be so carefree. “I’m going to be a ninja so I can protect people and help kids who get lost like me.” A little guilt always helped.

“Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you?” Kurama purred, giving the mental image of a crying baby, but Naruto ignored him. He wasn’t ashamed to admit his attention span was too short for two conversations at once.

“What do you mean, you just got here?” Orochimaru cut in, his voice quiet.

“Oh! I found Konoha today. I was lost. There are a lot of scary animals, and bad shinobi, but I’m good at hiding and running too!” He stretched his arms out in an approximation of the girth of the snake that had tried to get him earlier. “There was a big snake! It’s stomach was like this! And it tried to bite me, when I was climbing a tree to see where I should go, but it didn’t get me!” He pointed at the Hokage monument, grinning like a loon. “I came out of the trees up there, but I’m really good at climbing. I can be sticky, too. Then I took a bath, since I was dirty, and now I’m with you!” At some point in the conversation Kagami put his head in his hands, and Sakumo was looking at him like he wanted to smother him. Even Orochimaru looked parental.

“That’s quite a story, Naruto-kun. How long were you in the forest, do you think?” Jiraiya said, clearly trying to hype himself back up a little.

“Oh I don’t know. Ojisan didn’t have a calendar. It’s been a long time, though. It was harder when it was cold, but when it’s warm like this. Spring is my favorite season!” Sakumo let out a whine a little like a dog, barely audible, but there. Naruto felt a little bad about playing them like this, but he needed an in. Plus, all of that prankster training and subterfuge in Ame had to go to something.

“That’s very good of you to be by yourself for so long, Naruto. I’m glad you’re here. Were you trying to find anyone in Konoha? And do you have a surname? Like how I’m Sakumo but my family name is Hatake?”

“No, I wasn’t trying to find anyone,” Naruto pretended to consider, “except for the Hokage! He’s in charge of the shinobi and I want to be a shinobi. And I don’t think so. Ojisan never told me I had a family name, he just said my family was killed because of the war.”

They continued to chat for a few minutes, mostly about lighter things, like his favorite foods and similar, which Naruto knew was a cover to keep talking in hand-sign while they figured out what to do with him. A little impatient, Naruto decided to force their hand.

“Thank you for the food, Orochimaru-san, Jiraiya-san, Sakumo-san, and Kagami-san! It was nice to meet you all,” he executed a short bow after climbing out of the chair. It was a little unnerving to be so short. “I’m going to go find the Hokage so I can be a ninja, dattebayo!” Turning, he dashed off to the tune of surprised shouts behind him. He got as far as the corner a block away before a hand grabbed his yukata and picked him up from behind. He squirmed a little, but in real panic - the clothing was too large and loose for someone to hold him like that, and he was dangerously close to sliding out the bottom naked in the street. Gripping the neck of the fabric and the hand holding him was all he could do to prevent that major embarrassment. It turned out to be Kagami holding him, and the man swung him a little as he yelled at him for running off so suddenly. Luckily, Sakumo seemed to understand Naruto’s problem as he came to his rescue, pulling his friend’s arm down to let Naruto’s feet rest on the ground.

“Are you trying to steal my clothes, old man! I only have this one, get your own!” Naruto yelled, bringing his fist up. Kurama’s laughter in his mind egged him on, and he swung at Kagami’s side, yelling something he’d only ever called Jiraiya. “Pervert!”

The other two, having followed them, laughed, and Sakumo crouched down in front of him as Kagami leapt away like he’d been burned, sputtering.

“No, Naruto, he’s not trying to steal your clothes,” he smiled, helping to fix the yukata, “but you surprised us when you ran off like that. You see, those two,” he pointed at Jiraiya and Orochimaru, “are the Hokage’s students, so I’m sure they can introduce you. Why don’t you let us take you there?” Naruto cheered and acted suitably impressed, babbling questions at the two of them about the Hokage and being a ninja. Jiraiya lapped it up, laughing hugely, but Orochimaru’s blush was the most surprising part of the whole thing. Suddenly Naruto had the thought that this man, who bought udon for strange orphans and was embarrassed by praise, was someone who deserved to be saved. He grabbed a sannin in each hand and jumped up and down, babbling about the Hokage.

Orochimaru blushed further, and seemed to be taking things very seriously, answering Naruto’s questions in full, and Naruto had the realization that his looks probably scared away a lot of people, too. He tightened his hold on the snake sannin’s hand.

Kagami was whispering to Sakumo about Naruto not having any shoes, which was a little funny since Naruto had forgotten, too. His quick healing and regeneration meant his soles were tough as leather at this point, though cleaner than they had been thanks to the onsen. Another point to the rough orphan look. Naruto had perfected that look in his first childhood.

Hanging on the hands in his, Naruto couldn’t help but think his life was already improved, and he’d just arrived.

Sakumo and Kagame lead the charge, and together the five of them headed toward the Hokage tower.


End file.
